The MAN accused of killing Drogheda woman Jill Meagher has admitted that he raped her but denied that he murdered her.

A magistrate in Melbourne committed Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court on a charge that he murdered Jill on September 22 last year after abducting her from an inner suburban street.

As one count of murder was put to Bayley by Magistrate Felicity Broughton he answered "not guilty" in a soft voice.

He then pleaded guilty to one count of vaginal rape but answered "not guilty" to further counts of anal and oral rape.

It is believed that Bayley will claim he never intended to kill Jill when he dragged her into a laneway in Brunswick.

Bayley will appear in the Supreme Court on March 25 for a pre trial procedural hearing.